Coronavirus cases spiral: People in various states of the country on Sunday turned off the lights of their houses and lighted earthen lamps, responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘9 pm, 9-min’ appeal to defeat the coronavirus in the country.

However, the central government on Sunday claimed Tablighi Jamaat, a spiritual occasion that was held in Delhi’s Nizamuddin space simply days earlier than the 21-day lockdown was introduced, has contributed to doubling of coronavirus instances in India, undoing India’s efforts to include the unfold.

As of now, Over 1,200 cases and at least 10 deaths have been linked to people who attended the three-day event at the headquarters of the religious group.

An account ‘Tablighi Jamaat’, there is a doubling rate of cases in India is under 4.1 days. 

” Lav Agarwal, a joint secretary at the health ministry, said that- If this event had not been taken place,  the doubling rate would have been in 7.4 days.

The assessment(of ‘Tablighi Jamaat) may have a significant impact on the government’s decision to extend the lockdown in parts of the country.

Stretching from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, The Tablighi case has sparked one of the nation’s most challenging manhunts, where authorities are still trying to identify those who participated in the event or came in close contact with them.

One of the badly affected states includes ‘Uttar Pradesh’, where authorities have identified 1,499 members of Tablighi Jamaat and 132 COVID-19 positive cases.

With as many as 4,000 people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event leaving Delhi by trains, buses and flights to various parts of the country, efforts to trace all those who came in contact with them have become complicated- as per public health experts. 

On Sunday(05/04/2020), the state decided to extend section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in Gautam Buddh Nagar till 30 April. UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath also indicated that the lockdown in the state would be lifted from 15 April in a “phased manner”.

The Union health ministry’s containment plan for large outbreaks has clearly stated “intensive risk communication campaign will be followed to encourage all persons to stay indoors for an initial period of 28 days, to be extended based on the risk assessment. Based on the risk assessment and indication of successful containment operations, an approach of staggered work and market hours may be put into practice”.

Meanwhile, the central government has already conveyed that lockdown would not be extended, we cannot be sure that such incidents wouldn’t happen again. 

Arun Singhal, special secretary, ministry of health and family welfare, said in an interview, that, ”We are looking at our preparations for preventing the spread in the whole country. Furthur he also stated,- “We are anyway looking at the worst-case scenario, keeping such lapses in mind. We are doing our level best to prevent the virus from spreading and the decisions to be taken further will also depend on the current and future situation in mind